Association and Risk of Canine Distemper with Respect to Age, Sex and Breed of Dogs Suffering from Demyelinating Neuropathies

A total of 3934 canine patients were screened clinically and dogs showing neurological signs were further examined for presence of Myelin basic protein and Canine distemper (CD) specific immunoglobulin (IgG and IgM) both in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid. The overall incidence of Demyelinating neuropathies (DMN) in dogs was 3.53%, that of CD was 2.39% and DMN due to other causes was 1.14%. Over all age wise incidence of DMN was higher in older dogs with age group >9 years (32.37%). Whereas incidence of DMN due to CD was higher in younger dogs with age group of 0-1 years (32.98%) and lowest in 1-3 years (9.57%) among the dogs. Sex wise incidence of CD was higher in male (53.33%) than female (46.67%). Further analysis of risk factor for CD in dog suffering from DMN and its association with age, sex and breed revealed that the dogs aged between 0 -1 years was 4.051, 1.384, 1.292 and 1.292 times more at risk when compared with dogs aged > 9 years (0.247), 3-6 years (0.723), 6-9 years (0.774) and 1-3 years (0.774) of age groups respectively. Breed wise Mongrel was 3.00, 2.250, 1.875, 1.263, 1.105 and 1.500 times higher at risk when compared with Dalmatian, Doberman, German shepherd, Labrador, Pomeranian and Spitz breed respectively. Dogs were 2.288 times more prone to CD than bitches. From the present it can be concluded that CD is widely prevalent among the dogs and is associated with DMN with variation in risk factor between different age groups, sex and breeds of dogs.